Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1887-12-23
orr "rfcioUS' rARlFF laws

ENrUNurs From GAt.UsHN 4. GROWS SPEECH
Ar rHE REPUBLICAN CLrB CONVENTION
The President. in his annual messnge To
Congress, declares our present tariff laws
the vicious, inequitabe aud illogical source
Of unnecessary taxation" and that chose
laws in their primary and plain effect raise
the price to consumers of all articles inn
ported and subject TO duty by precisely the
sum paid for such duties.
II this statement is correct then there is.
aud has been for years, mistake in the
published price lists Of sales OF articles of
home production similar to those imported
The ascertainment Of the correctness of
this statement involves the whole question
of the influence Of tariffs upon labor and
the Industries of the country.
While tariff laws are revenue laws, they
are not strictly tax laws Under tax law
"a definite amount is imposed ON individuals
or property, and just that definite amount
must he paid by the individual or the owner
Of the property. Under tariff laws an
amount is collected in duties at the custom
house ON articles Of consumption and
whether that amount, or what part Of it, is
paid 10y the producer, the transporter or the
consumer, depends upon the condition of
trade at the time Of the consumption, and
metaphysical reasoning or of logical con
clu,ion.
A few years ago the law as to newspaper
postage was changed, requiring the pub.
Usher to pay it instead of the subscriber :
vet the price of the paper to the subscriber
continued the same In the passage of the
law, had the free trader been consulted as
to its effect, he would have insisted that if
the publisher paid the postage, which be-
fore had been paid 10y the subscriber, then
of course the subscriber would have to pay
just that much more for his paper-or in
the language of the President. precisely the
sum paid for such postage. But the practi-
cal business result was that the subscriber
got his paper that much less, and the pub
Usher lost it out of his profits
The opponents of a protective policy give
as reason for their opposition, and the
President in his message announces it as a
fixed fact in trade, that a duty upon an ar
ticle enhances the price to the amount Of
the duty, and in case of protected article
1t is II bounty to the producer of the article
at the expense of the consumer
/ Upon this assumption the free trader
| takes the entire quantity of an article i'm
/ ported, multiplies it 10y the duty imposed
and claims the result as the amount which
| the consumer pays extra on the imported
article. Then, as he claims, the price OF
/ the home product is enhanced to the amount
/ of duty, and this is another of the Presi
/ dents fixed facts in trade He multiple,
the entire quantity of such articles produc
ed in the country by the duty imposed OF
the foreign article; and these two sums ar,
what he claims the consumer pays extra b,
reason of the duty. And in some cases al
expert free-trade mathematician figures GU
of these two items for the laborer to pa,
extra, by reason of these custom house du
ties, an amount exceeding his entire wages
The revenue collected from duties for TIN
year ending June 30, 1887, was $217, 2S6,
S93. IL. Call the population of the countr.
b3OOO'OoO, and, surprising that each indi
vidual consumed the same amount of i'm
ported articles subject to duty, and suppos
ing that that duty enhanced the price in al
cases TO the amount of the duty, then TO
the year 1886 each individual paid into tn
treasury of the United States So 80 an,
that is all that he could possibly have pai
in duties if each individual consumed al
equal amount of articles subject u duty
and the duty raised the price precisely tn
sum paid in such duties.
This great burden of taxation, of whic
We hear so much from the free traders,
sum scarcely sufficient to buy "a box a
poor cigars. But as 10y far the larges
part of imports subject 10 duty is consume
10y the more wealthy portion of our people
whatever enhancement Of price there ma
be is paid mostly by them